Federal Legislative Action Alert

Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - Senate Action Expected

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Last Updated Date:

06/17/2015

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S. 1553) was introduced in the Senate on June 11 by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The identical bill passed the House of Representatives on May 13, 2015, by a vote of 242 to 184. Please urge your Senators to support this bill.

Due to the fact that there is substantial medical evidence that an unborn child is capable of experiencing pain at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, this measure asserts a compelling governmental interest in protecting unborn children from this stage. With limited exceptions, S. 1553 makes it unlawful to perform or attempt to perform an abortion if the probable post-fertilization age of the unborn child is 20 weeks or greater.

In a June 16, 2015 letter to the Senate, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, urged support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The conviction in 2013 of Dr. Kermit Gosnell for crimes committed while providing abortions has “led many Americans to realize that our permissive laws and attitudes have allowed the abortion industry to undertake these procedures,” He wrote. People are repulsed “by the callous and barbarous treatment of women and children in Gosnell’s clinic, and in other clinics that abort children after 20 weeks

Some children in Gosnell’s clinic, the Cardinal continues, were “born alive and crying or screaming in pain, until their lives were intentionally and deliberately ended.” These procedures also pose serious dangers to women, “as evidenced by Gosnell’s own manslaughter conviction for one woman’s death, and news about the death or serious complications of other women undergoing such procedures.”

Many women were sent to Gosnell by other abortion clinics. The Cardinal asks: “What does it say about us as a nation, if we will not act against abortions that even full-time abortionists find abhorrent?” The Cardinal concludes: “On behalf of our country and the children whose lives are at stake, I urge you to support the common-sense reform offered by S. 1553 and to oppose all weakening amendments.” See: nchla.org/datasource/idocuments/paincapableltr061615.pdf